Ireland back-row Denis Leamy will miss the 2012 Six Nations with a hip injury.

The 30-year-old is likely to be out for up to four months as he undergoes the surgeon's knife to rectify the niggling injury. Munster coach Tony McGahan confirmed the diagnosis saying: "Denis will be out probably for four months. He will have an operation, and is getting it finalised."

Leamy has only appeared seven times for the Celtic league champions this season but featured for Ireland during the 2011 World Cup. And McGahan - who has called on Peter O'Mahony frequently this term - admits that he may look to bring in another face to bolster the back-row division at Thomond Park.

"We will have to look at the numbers - we have registration to close on five or six at five o'clock on Tuesday and then we have an opportunity after that deadline if we get through to the quarter-finals," McGahan said. "But we still have a few guys like David Wallace and Felix Jones to come back into the squad so that immediately eats up two places already.

"We have some good back-rowers here in the club so we haven't really discussed that."

And in related news, Ireland have turned down the opportunity to play midweek matches while on tour in New Zealand in the summer. The New Zealand Rugby Union had hoped that Declan Kidney's men would face the Maori's and a Super Rugby side. But an IRFU spokesman has dismissed the notion.

"It's for logistical as well as playing reasons," an IRFU spokesman said last week. "We would have had to move around to play the midweek games and we want to focus on the Test series."